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Ariana Grande Rejected Carole Baskin's 'Unique' Submission For Her And Justin Bieber's 'Stuck with U' Video
Ariana Grande made it clear that she was the one to torpedo Carole and Howard Baskin's cat-themed submission.
"Tiger King" subject Carole Baskin and her husband were among the legions of fans hoping to be featured in pop star Ariana Grande's video collaboration with Justin Bieber, but Grande turned them down.
Grande and Bieber teamed up for the song "Stuck with U," and compiled clips of fans dancing to the hit to make a new social distancing-themed music video, which was released Friday at midnight.
Less than eight hours before the video went live, Bieber, 26, tweeted a clip of Baskin and her husband Howard, who were thrust into the spotlight by the Netflix docuseries "Tiger King,” dancing along to the song wearing matching cat print tunics and lion hats, and doting on a house cat.
“Tonight. #stuckwithu . He ain't going nowhere,” Bieber wrote, teasing the upcoming release and presumably referencing Howard.
Grande, 26, was quick to reply to Bieber’s post, making it clear she'd rejected the Baskins' submission.
"For the record, i did not allow or approve this clip to be in the actual video. but. nonetheless. it exists and that’s ..... unique," Grande wrote.
When a fan laughed over the clip, the pop star replied, “i am very glad someone is laughing [...] the f---king heart attacks i had over this.”
The Netflix series, which mainly follows the rise and fall of private zoo owner Joe Exotic, who was convicted of trying to have Baskin killed, also devotes an episode to the 1997 disappearance of Baskin's former husband Don Lewis. People interviewed by the filmmakers suggested that Carole may have played some role in Lewis' disappearance or death, though Baskin has vehemently denied this.
But that hasn't stopped the public from making their own conclusions and some have resorted to harassing the big cat activist. Baskin recently posted a compilation clip of some of the phone calls she's received — nearly an hour’s worth — to her Facebook. While some calls seem like pranks, plenty of them contain death threats. The very first caller talks about “putting a bullet between your f---king eyes.”
Carole Baskin told Oxygen.com at the time that the calls have kept coming following the release of "Tiger King," which she and her husband have been vocally critical of. They claim the filmmakers misled them into believing they were participating in a documentary like “Blackfish,” which would focus on animal abuse. Instead, the docuseries features what they consider to be salacious insinuation.
Carole told TMZ she was not hurt by the rejection and said she "hopes it [Bieber’s tweet] doesn't attract too many of the haters who have been bashing us since being misled by ‘Tiger King.’"
Joe Exotic, the misguided star of “Tiger King,” is currently serving 22 years for animal abuse and for trying to get Carole killed.
